It doesn't really matter which comes first, does it? People will buy peat-free if there's no peat supplied, and if people don't buy peat-based, the stores won't stock it. The main thing, as with most change, is that no one hangs around expecting others to make the first move. There's no time left for that. I'd love garden centres etc to act responsibly, but I can't make them. I can however take responsibility for my own purchasing.
'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
I have always disliked peat free compost, never found a good one. This has allowed me to think, if they are still burning it for power, I will continue to use it in my compost. Now I will have to re-think, and that is good.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
Flying into Ireland, it's upsetting to see the devastation. But I also love the smell of a domestic peat fire. It's even better than wood smoke. A primeval thing I suppose - warmth safety food. That kind of thing. Totally different from denuding peat bogs for commercial purposes.
It's clear that large commercial companies never lead as visionaries or ethical leaders - they are always forced into ethical decisions by reguations are violent swings in popular opinion. It's shameful. Companies bleat that they will provide what the "customer wants" - as if that makes it ok, as if customers ever show any kind of sense.
Looking at the UK government response in March to a petition calling for peat use in horticulture to be banned https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/263362 it seems clear that we would be wise to be seeking alternatives to use in our gardens - because of the ecological harm caused by peat extraction, and the huge ecological benefits of peat staying in the ground, but also simply because it isn't going to continue to be available in the long term, and the sooner we seek and demand good quality alternatives, the more they will be produced.
I've had good peat-free compost and bad peat-free compost. And that's the same brand in the same bags, so apparently the same product. I guess it's because it's based on composted green waste, bark etc which is more variable than peat, but the suppliers do need to up their game and not bag up stuff that would be fine with a few more months composting (or even weeks as I'm sure industrial scale composting gets hotter than domestic). In the meantime I resign myself to occasionally getting a bag that's only good for mulching.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
@philippasmith2 I couldn't agree more. It should be down to binary choices any more - we are way past that. It's not 'either / or' but ' both/and'. Everyone needs to throw everything they have to solve these problems and not pass the buck or wait for someone else to get their finger out.
If you yourself want to buy second rate compost, buy it, but don't ram it down my throat, if you want to be PC and jump on the latest bandwagon do so.
Both Gardeners World and Beechgrove presenters are programmed to say peat free compost with a dash of leaf mould added, me I have never seen or handled leaf mould but then I don't have acres of woodland just a normal suburban garden.
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This has allowed me to think, if they are still burning it for power, I will continue to use it in my compost.
Now I will have to re-think, and that is good.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Totally different from denuding peat bogs for commercial purposes.
Peat-free, I hope.